Repertoire

Gunther Schuller: Symphony for Brass and Percussion (1950) 18′
Leonard Bernstein: Serenade for Violin and Orchestra (1954) 33′
John Adams: I Still Dance (2019) 8′
George Gershwin: An American in Paris (1928) 20’

ARTISTS

James Ehnes, violin
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC)

Programme

Entirely focused on American musical production, the concert opens with a work by Gunther Schuller, conceived in the 1950s: a Symphony for Brass and Percussion evocative of imposing landscapes. It is followed by a change in musical language with Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade for Violin, completed in 1954. Scored for string orchestra, harp and percussion —in addition to the ever-present solo violin, here played by James Ehnes— the piece was described by its creator as being close in spirit to Plato’s Symposium: “a series of declarations in praise of love”, with each movement evolving from elements of the previous one. The concert continues with a work by John Adams, one of the leading figures of contemporary minimalism. His piece “I Still Dance” displays dense orchestral writing rich in fluctuations, where repetition coexists with surprise. From a certain distance in time, yet marking a compositional milestone of the late 1920s shared by all of them, George Gershwin’s An American in Paris captures the urban atmosphere of the City of Light: its frenetic daytime bustle, the romantic aura surrounding evening strollers, and the jazzy hubbub of nighttime celebrations.

This concert is included in the programme of the Festival Ciutat de Clàssica